How to Grant Access to Report to Outside Customers

[Bebo]

I have developed a report within Desktop and published this report to Power Bi Service. The report is outside customer specific and I need to provide access for the outside customer to access the report. I will also be cresting similar reports for other customers. Most of these customers will not have a Pro or PPU license. So, what is the best and most cost effective option to provide access? 

[v-binbinyu-msft]

Hi @Bebo ,

Please try to create a workspace that hosted in Power BI Premium P SKU Capacity. In P SKU, free use could view the content in workspace. You just need give user the access role for this workspace. But for external user, you need add he as the guest user for your organize firstly, then give he the role to access workspace.

For more details, you can read related document: Distribute content to external guest users with Azure AD B2B - Power BI | Microsoft Learn , Roles in workspaces in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Best regards,
Community Support Team_Binbin Yu
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Bebo]

Is setting up a web portal for the clients/customers and embeding the report link there a possible solution for PPU users?

[v-binbinyu-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Bebo ,

Power BI embedded analytics allows you to embed Power BI content such as reports, dashboards and tiles, into your application.

Power BI embedded analytics offers two solutions:

Embed for your customers - Allows you to build a an app that uses non-interactive authentication against Power BI. Your customers are likely to be external users, and they don't need to sign in using Power BI credentials to view the embedded content. Typically, this solution is used by independent software vendors (ISVs) who are developing applications for third parties. For a tutorial, see Embed Power BI content using a sample embed for your customers application.

To use your application, your users won't need to sign in to Power BI or have a Power BI license.

We recommend using the embed for your customers method to embed your Power BI content, if you're an independent software vendor (ISV) or a developer, who wants to create applications for third parties.

Prerequisites:

• Your own Azure Active Directory tenant.

• To authenticate your app against Power BI, you'll need one of the following:

  • Service principal - An Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) service principal object that allows Azure AD to authenticate your app.

  • Power BI Pro license - This will be your master user and your app will use it to authenticate to Power BI.

  • A Power BI Premium Per User (PPU) license - This will be your master user and your app will use it to authenticate to Power BI.

  • To move to production you'll need a capacity.

Embed for your organization - Allows you to build an app that requires signing in using Power BI credentials. Once signed in users can only consume embedded content they have access to on Power BI service. This solution is aimed at big organizations that are building an app for internal users. For a tutorial, see Embed Power BI content into an application for your organization.

To use your application, your users will need to sign in to Power BI.

The embed for your organization solution is usually used by enterprises and big organizations, and is intended for internal users.

Prerequisites:

• Your own Azure Active Directory tenant.

• One of the following licenses:

  • Power BI Pro

  • Premium Per User (PPU)

• To move to production you'll need one of the following configurations:

  • All users with Pro licenses.
  • All users with PPU licenses.
  • A P or EM capacity. This configuration allows all users to have free licenses.

For more details, you can read related document: Power BI embedded analytics overview | Microsoft Learn,  Embed content in your Power BI embedded analytics application for your organization - Power BI | Mic... , Embed content in your Power BI embedded analytics application - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Best regards,
Community Support Team_Binbin Yu
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Bebo]

After researching this a bit more, if I use the solution above I have to ugrade to  Power BI Premium P SKU Capacity license which is a huge price increase. Is there a more ecomomical solutio as I am self employed and this is not practical.

[Bebo]

Thanks for the quick response.

I have a Premium per User license and the report I want to dsitribute was published from desktop to my PPU workspace. So, it sounds like if my customer has a Power BI free account, I can add them as a guest to the workspace and give them a Viewer role. Is that correct?

Sure seems like a amore simple feature should be added for this type of issue / need.

[Tutu_in_YYC]

No, unfortunately that will not work. In this case, the guest has to have a PPU license too.

In general, to share reports securely there 2 options:
1. Host has a workspace in Premium capacity ( not PPU ), and guest has free license

2. Host has a workspace in non-premium, and guest must have Pro license.

Point 2 is the cheapest way to do it in a smaller scale. Security is the main cost (ie licensing)

[Bebo]

Thanks for the response. 

So, if my customer gets a PPU license, can they share the report within their Organization that they set up during the license setup process? Or, can we set up a customer portal within our website and embed the report link in the portal?

[Tutu_in_YYC]

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@Bebo wrote:

So, if my customer gets a PPU license, can they share the report within their Organization that they set up during the license setup process?

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No, in this scenario with PPU workspace, every customer that wants to see the report will need a PPU license each. E.g Adam and Eve are your customers, both of them need to have their own PPU license. If Adam and Eve wants to share the report to their colleague Jack, Jack needs a PPU license too. ( If you plan to fo this direction, you can make do with just Pro license/ dont need PPU)

They dont need to be in your workspace, you can just give them access to the particular report. Also please bear in mind, your company may have some rules/processes set up for adding guest users, this is usually controlled by your Azure Active Directory admin.

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@Bebo wrote:

Or, can we set up a customer portal within our website and embed the report link in the portal?

---

Yes you can. This is a good way to provide analytics to guests/customers. This reporting service is more complex to set up and will costs more on your end, but customers will not need a Power BI license anymore. Really good approach if you are expecting more customers/guest consuming your reports ( e.g probably not worth it if you have < 20 guests and not planning on expanding) 

 

[Bebo]

Thanks so much for the ideas.

We already have a customer portal on our website that we maintain for other projects. So, we could just add that portal instance.

Can you rpovide some links that guide us through through the Power BI steps to link / embed with a portal?

Thanks again for the help- much appreciated.

[Tutu_in_YYC]

Here it is:
Embed a Power BI report in an application for your customers
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/embed-customer-app

And here is a sandbox for you play around before doing a full implementation
https://playground.powerbi.com/en-us/

Have fun!

[djurecicK2]

Hi @Bebo ,

 Here is some additional information- it is not a simple process. Take a look at "app owns data". You will need to purchase a power bi capacity.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/embedded-analytics-power-bi

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/embedded-faq

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/embed-customer-app